Helping sex workers stop ? and stay stopped

Sex trade workers are considered among the hardest of the homeless population to help, with severe addiction, trauma and violence the constants in their lives. They also battle stigma from the health-care and social service workers who are supposed to help them. In a Canadian first, 22 agencies in London have developed a bold plan to help these women with their housing and health-care needs and, ultimately, to escape their treacherous lifestyles.

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London has embarked on a novel, ambitious plan to help the city’s 200 street-level sex workers get housing, get healthy and — if they want — get out of the life.

Nowhere else in Canada have so many agencies — 22 so far — agreed to break through their own walls and work together to help street sex workers, organizers say.

Those 22 agencies have committed to put people and resources into three teams — a rapid response unit, transitional support unit and long-term help unit — likely starting work this fall.

The name of the plan suggests the ambitious scope and challenge: Hard to Stop, Harder to Stay Stopped.

“It’s a quote from the women, and I think it is telling the message about what we need to do,” said Jan Richardson, the city’s manager of homeless prevention, who spearheaded the community plan.

“We are committed to believing homelessness is a solvable problem and this is an impressive commitment to stop. What we don’t want is . . . a scattered approach,” Richardson said.

Several former street sex workers have been involved in creating the plan and some sit on an advisory board. The new plan will help, the women say.

“Now they are going to put the support in place so when a girl is ready, the support is really there,” said one, who did not want to be named. . . . “They really respect that we’ve been there and we know what’s going to work.”

Representatives of the seven agencies that make up the governance group overseeing implementation met with The London Free Press and spoke about the significance of 22 agencies working for the first time together.

“For women who are out there, it is saying, ‘Wow, look at these agencies that are all coming together. I can walk into any single one of them and feel safe to say this is who I am . . . and I need some support. And this might not be the right door, but it is a door that will help connect me,’ ” said Heather Elliott, a manager at Addiction Services of Thames Valley.

London police have identified about 150 women selling sex on the streets to survive, but agencies believe there may be 50 more. The women are considered among the hardest homeless population to help, with addiction, trauma and violence constants in their lives. And they battle stigma from health care and social service workers charged with helping them.

“It is a highly marginalized group of women who have had bad experiences with the system and have a mistrust in the system,” said Rhonda Brittan, a public health nurse with the Middlesex-London Health Unit. “This plan is looking at all those points of the system and trying to connect them.”

The plan was created after a year of study that included interviews with 33 sex workers or former workers, interviews with more than 90 agencies and advice from former workers.

The women themselves identified five key areas where they need help: Addiction, housing, getting their children back, becoming safe and finding support from one worker they can trust, and their own peers.

The community plan focuses first on getting a woman who wants help immediate aid, whether it’s medical treatment or a safe shelter from the street or violent situation. That’s the job of the frontline workers on the multi-agency, 24/7 rapid response team, which is also responsible for building trust with women who are often reluctant to seek help.

Then, what’s called the systems integration team steps in, getting the woman secure housing and providing intense, in-home support 24/7. That team will connect the woman with addiction therapy, trauma counselling, life skills training, and help organize daily activities.

Housing is the foundation for each woman’s success.

“A lot of these women have trauma, have addiction, have relationships with men that are complex and abusive and that is why housing is so critical,” Elliott said. “Having their own housing, their own sense of safety, is the starting point women themselves have identified.”

Once a woman’s life has stabilized, the health, well-being and belonging team helps her integrate into the community.

“One of the main components of this plan is that it is women-driven. It is by meeting that woman, where she’s at, and where her needs are at. Housing-first is a great start, but we’ve identified a number of outcomes,” Brittan said.

The plan relies on sharing information, with the woman’s consent, so agencies don’t work in isolation. Organizers are seeking money for two co-ordinators but say most of the work can be done with existing resources.

“Although it’s a complex issue, we do it each and every day, so coming together makes a lot of sense for us,” said Heather Lumley, chair of the governance committee and executive director of St. Leonard’s Society.

Not all agencies’ organizers sought have signed on. Although representatives of the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre were involved in discussions, the provincial jail has not yet committed to the model officially.

The jail’s superintendent has contacted organizers to discuss being a partner, a provincial spokesperson said Friday.

“A lot of problems stem from not having a home to go to when you get out of jail. If there was somebody to meet me at those gates . . . ” said one former worker.

“Thinking about getting an apartment, a job, getting money — it was just too much sometimes. To get high, I just needed to get some money, get some dope and get high. And if you go to the dealer, a lot of times the first time back is a freebie.”

The plan is getting support among advocates, but they warn the key remains the people who work with the women.

“Their relationship with the case worker, the probation officer, it is always make-or-break. The worker made or broke the experience,” said one worker. “They make or break your success.”

This is a community plan. When people buy into it, we shift the system and look at homelessness in a new way, which is exactly what we need to end it.

Chuck Lazenby, Unity Project shelter

Because homelessness is so complicated, none of us can tackle it on our own. The collaboration and commitment is essential.

Grant Martin, London Cares

What I am most excited about is the learning that is going to come from this for the community of London on how to support and work with the women.

Barhet Woldermariam, Housing for Women

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She picks a pseudonym: Hope. She has a bit, mixed with trauma from the death of family members, addiction to crack cocaine, despair over life on the street. As 22 community agencies develop a plan to help the estimated 200 street-based sex workers, a veteran worker spoke to Free Press reporter Randy Richmond about life on the street in London.

Q: What sends you to the street?

Something has to trigger me to go out there. If s— is going down in my home. Certain things that I can’t deal with, that’s what takes me out there. It’s money and the money is drugs. I don’t even call it money, I just call it drugs because it gets me there, eh?

Q: What is on your mind when you’re heading out to the street?

Absolutely nothing. Drugs. It’s like a blank. You just turn it all off. Get the john, do drugs, get the john, do drugs. You have to do the drugs in order to get the john . . . to carry it on. Sometimes, I can just do a little bit and then stop, but sometimes I can go from morning to night. And it’s out there. I’ve never waited to have my money add up.

Q: What do you charge?

$40 for oral sex.

Q: And how much crack does that get you?

Like a little piece, that’s it. Three hoots, then I’m back out there again.

Q: What time of day?

Five o’clock is rush hour, so that’s good money. Eight o’clock is your elderly, which is way safer, eight till about 11. The rest comes in the middle of the night. Their wives have gone to sleep. You hit the street around 2 a.m. But then you hit the police officers, so it’s kind of messed up. Mostly the day, five o’clock rush hour. It’s like bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Five o’clock in the morning, the men . . . workers, boom, boom, boom, boom. On the way to work. It’s your best cash flow. It’s all different hours.

Q: How easy is it to get a john?

Very easy. I’ve only ever worked on the same street. You make eye contact. Then you know. They pull off around the corner. If he stops right there, I say ‘No, go around the block and park on the side.’ When I get in his vehicle, I say ‘what’s your name, what name do you use?’ A cop stops you . . . you got to know the guy’s name. So I can say, ‘it’s my buddy.’

Q: Do the johns ever try to rip you off?

Oh yeah. Many times, many. I’d rather take the loss than start something.

Q: What is it like out there these days?

The street is pretty crazy. You never know if you’re going to get out of the car. It is getting way worse. I’ve met a lot of men who don’t like women. They’re out there to f— you up, not get pleasure. That’s their kind of pleasure. It is getting way, way worse, too, because a lot of the girls rip off the johns and they’re not impressed. One man scared the bejesus out of me. He grabbed my hair when I was sitting in his vehicle. Way stronger than me, way stronger. I opened the car while it was going. I don’t care if I fall out and break my bones — I am getting out of my vehicle.

Q: What has changed?

There’s a lot of babies out there. There’s a lot of new girls, new faces. Can’t be more than 16, 17 years old. That’s sad. The youngest ones, they make a killing. It just makes me sad to watch them. A lot of them are into needles. They just don’t care.

Q: Any advice for the young ones?

Just go home, go home.

Q: Have you ever been beaten up?

Been threatened but never beat up. The ones that want to get you are the girls, if you are taking too many of theirs . . . Certain areas belong to another person, you’re going to get it.

Q: Do you still get nervous getting into a car?

Very. Very. I don’t get in the car if my stomach hurts. If I meet somebody and I feel sick, I don’t care how much money you’ve got, I’m getting out of the car. Something’s wrong. For some reason, I feel sick.

Q: Do you want to get out of the life?

I want to get out of the drug world, which will take me out of that world. But now I have this rotten attitude. I have cancer anyway, so I smoke it up. It will make me go faster. I don’t know. I’ve lost it. I know I’m not going to be around a long time. Might as well smoke.

Q: Have you tried to get out before?

Oh yeah, many times, many times, but always frustration with cash. If I don’t have groceries, it’s five minutes and I make money or it’s a whole three weeks (waiting for a disability cheque) to stress. The systems. I can’t live with it. On ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), you got money for rent and you got money for pills and after that you’ve got nothing.

Q: What triggers giving up and going back?

Just can’t deal with s—. All the things I’ve done. It always takes me back there. I never did any people wrong, just the whole idea of the sex working. Just, I don’t know, I just always go back. Or I’m broke. Believe it or not it’s the quickest way. But you never know if you’re ever going to come back (from the car). That’s what I don’t like.

Q: Does your family know what you do?

No. I would never tell them. It’s degrading. It is. When I get in there, in their car, it’s just like, wow. But I’m fast, five minutes then I’m out of the car. That’s what I say to them — put your cash on the dashboard, five minutes.

Q: Do you get close to the women out there?

Very. I care about my girls. You don’t see them out there, you ask everybody. If I don’t see somebody in so many days, I’m looking for them. A lot of my girls I trusted, they’re gone, they’re gone, Passed away. I don’t know how. We’re all on the same page. Some of us worse than others. I don’t care what anybody says. Pain and trauma have brought all or most. If you sit down and listen to any of their stories, it is pain, all the way.

Q: What do you think of men out there?

Pig dogs. Certain ones that are married, it pisses me off. You know, I’m a lady, too, that wants to be married sometime in life. I think they’re dirty. I have regular clients I do care about. But when you’re out there, you’re bitter, you’re blank. I don’t like them and I don’t like what I do.

Q: What do you want to say to Londoners about sex workers?

You should have more respect for them. We’re looked down upon. It is hard work out there. It is degrading enough. We are carrying lots of guilt for doing it. I know I do.

Q: You make a lot of jokes out there? Is that how you survive?

I do try to joke about everything. That’s all I do because if I don’t I cry . . . It’s an evil f—ing world out there, it really is. You never know if it’s going to be your last car or not.

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